Chuck Seiler

Dave,
    I thought you were going with the Popeye motif.

Dave,
    I think you will find ALOT of crazy people in this forum.  First construction should be posted this week.  Promise!.

The wale(s) served a couple structural functions.  First, it helped hold the frames in places much like the hoop(s) of a barrel.  In truth, there are alot of other things holding the frames in places, but that give you a basic idea.  The other was to provide meat/support for the knees/ledges and other deck related structures.  The strengths gained in the bow as you approach the stem more than make up for the weaknesses incurred by the slight decrease in thickness.

Dave,
    I think you will find ALOT of crazy people in this forum.  First construction should be posted this week.  Promise!.

Dave,
    I think you will find ALOT of crazy people in this forum.  First construction should be posted this week.  Promise!.

Wee hours of the Morning, Thursday 29 May.  'Tis mere hours before I have to deliver the model to the County Fairgrounds.  All nighters are not as easy as they used to be.
 

Work on the awning structure is pretty much as complete as it is going to get.  I still need to add the rolled up awning, sweep rack and sweeps, but that will have to wait until the Fair is over.
 

Rigging is complete! Hoist the ensign and we sail into battle!!! 
<poop> No sail.  We row into battle
<poop>  No sweeps.  We get towed into battle...Call AAA. 
 

 
This page will be on hiatus until after July 4th, when I get PHILLY back.  I will complete the model and get pics posted.
My intent was to get a good set of shots prior to taking the model to the Fairgrounds from work....but I forgot my camera.

The awning structure-in progress.
 

We have steering!!!!!  The rudder still needs a little refinement, but it is functional.

Gunboat PHILADELPHIA sinking after the Battle of Valcour Island, October 11, 1776, from a painting by artist Ernie Hass (courtesy Lake Champlain Maritime Museum).  Things did not go well.

Well, After some prodding I am starting a build log on my recently acquired Model Shipways Gunboat Philadelphia. I am rather new to ship building, and anticipate a lot of fun trying to construct this boat. Fellow member Chuck Seiler (builder of a scratch Philly) has been very kind in offering up advice and tips. I welcome any advice. In fact, Please! Chuck is building the same kit, and I will shadow his progress gathering info and ideas. I have already inundated him with questions. So that being said, off I go to glue, cut, sand and try and figure how to build a boat!

Mark,
 
   Thanks for your kind words.  Sometimes ya just gotta do things other than just plain work.  Sometimes you have to break away from modeling for awhile, as well. 

...and here we all are!!!  Welcome to the build Steve.  Hopefully a bunch of my followers will cross over.

Greetings all....I'm back!!!
 
Model Shipways Kit (modified)
Scale: 1:24  1/2”=1’
Circa:  August-October 1776
 
    Happy Moon Day!!!  I am starting my build log on the 45th Anniversary of the Moon Landing....just because.  I don't actually plan on building until the first or second week in August, so I can do some summer stuff.  I will be doing some pre-build planning and I may add my thoughts here.
 
    I wanted to get started early so that my small but dedicated band of followers can find a seat.
 
    Background.  This will be the SECOND time I built PHILDELPHIA.  The first time I did so as a scratch build based on the Model Shipways plans.  I will refrain from going into why I chose PHILADELPHIA and save some bandwidth by giving you the link to my scratch build (if I can figure out how to do it). Chux scratch Philly.
 
    It was a fun build, but I had some challenges.  I have found that there was an additional sheet that comes with the model that does NOT come when you buy the plans separately.  This includes all the templates for bulkheads and other pieces parts.  Thanks alot Model Expo for not including that!!!  At any rate, it was an interesting build.  I entered it into the County Fair Design in Wood Exhibit (Scale model class) and actually got an offer to buy it.  By then, I was too attached to it to sell.  I offered to make a model from the kit, with boxwood and holly replacing the planking and primary exterior wood, as in the scratch.  I figured with the kit as a guide and my experience from the previous build, I could build it much faster and I could correct some problems...both with my build and what I perceived to be with the plans.  It also gives me an opportunity to work in a larger scale.  Some of those corners got really tight at 1/4" scale.
 
    History.  Again, so save bandwidth, I direct you to Philly History.  PHILADELPHIA and the history behind it is fascinating.  It (and its associated fleet, not to mention many of its adversaries) was built in a few weeks.  It 'lived' only a few months.  IIRC only PHILADELPHIA and ROYAL SAVAGE were the only two ships sunk during the battle, but within a week or two of the battle the entire American fleet was sunk, scuttled or captured-but it was considered a strategic American victory. 
 

 
    A century and a half or so later, it was discovered, raised and preserved.  It exists today, on display in the Smithsonian Institution.
 

 
NOW your interest is piqued, eh.  I think you REALLY want to go to Philly History and read more about it.  Other suggested readings include:
 
The Gunboat Philadelphia and the Defense of Lake Champlain in 1776. by Lundeberg, Philip K.  
The Gondola Philadelphia and the Battle of Lake Champlain. by Bratten, John R.
Benedict Arnold's Navy, by Nelson, James L.

Philly at the Fair.
 

I got some horrendous "blooms" from reflection.  Sunday (when I am back at the Fair) I will see If I can remove the case and get some shots.  Meanwhile, I tried to blot out the worst of them.
 

I managed to eek out an honourable mention.

Wee hours of the Morning, Thursday 29 May.  'Tis mere hours before I have to deliver the model to the County Fairgrounds.  All nighters are not as easy as they used to be.
 

Work on the awning structure is pretty much as complete as it is going to get.  I still need to add the rolled up awning, sweep rack and sweeps, but that will have to wait until the Fair is over.
 

Rigging is complete! Hoist the ensign and we sail into battle!!! 
<poop> No sail.  We row into battle
<poop>  No sweeps.  We get towed into battle...Call AAA. 
 

 
This page will be on hiatus until after July 4th, when I get PHILLY back.  I will complete the model and get pics posted.
My intent was to get a good set of shots prior to taking the model to the Fairgrounds from work....but I forgot my camera.

The awning structure-in progress.
 

We have steering!!!!!  The rudder still needs a little refinement, but it is functional.

The previous stage was late May 2013. I was on a building binge so that the model was ready for me to take to the County Fair.
 
By early June I had the upper three strakes of exterior planking installed, the center cross supports are all raised to the correct level (I thought) and the middle two planks on the center gundeck. If they look overly wide, they are. They are about two scale feet wide...but that is what the plans call for...because that is what the ship has. Deck planking is holly. Exterior and ceiling (interior) hull planking is boxwood.
 

I took some basswood the thickness I wanted my frames and ran them between the bulkheads, attached to the exterior planking. I would then sand the bulkheads down to the proper thickness...making them frames. There are a little over twice the number of frames on the real gunboat as I have. Here you see the bulkhead sanding process almost complete. The master shipwright surveys his work.
 

A look from a different angle. Note the cross supports forward have not been fully raised. I want to complete he ceiling planking before I do that.
 

A look at the sternpost. Note 'wings' used to help anchor planks
 

A look at the stem. No wings.
 
The beastie is starting to take shape.

The PHILADELPHIA 's sinking was it's eventual salvation. Having sunk in cold, fresh water, the hull and ironwork was saved from major deterioration for 160 years. In 1935 Colonel F. Hagglund, an experienced salvage engineer from New York, located and raised the PHILADELPHIA. After Hagglund's death, Philadelphia was donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, where she is on display to this day.
 

 

 
GUNBOAT PHILADELPHIA as it is today
 

I have no idea who these folks are, but it demonstrates proportion.

The next set of photos shows all the frames installed on the keel. The hull is a very solid structure.

Mark,
 
   Thanks for your kind words.  Sometimes ya just gotta do things other than just plain work.  Sometimes you have to break away from modeling for awhile, as well. 

Philly at the Fair.
 

I got some horrendous "blooms" from reflection.  Sunday (when I am back at the Fair) I will see If I can remove the case and get some shots.  Meanwhile, I tried to blot out the worst of them.
 

I managed to eek out an honourable mention.

As early as mid 1775 it was understood that Lake Champlain was a key highway between British controlled Canada and lower New York. Fort Ticonderoga and defense of the lake were critical. After a failed attempt to take Quebec from the British and effort to lure the people of Canada into the war on the side of the Yanks, American forces retreated south on the lake. Defense of the lake was about to begin.
 
Major General Philip Schulyler (commander of the northern department) had already started a 'ship building' industry on the site of a captured sawmill in Skenesborough (now Whitehall, NY). The site was used to build cargo batueax to transport troops and supplies up to Canada. The mission was quickly changed to the building of warships.
 
Construction began in August 1776 at a slow pace. Carpenters, riggers were reluctant to leave their lucrative businesses on the coast. Finally lured by higher wages, and despite the heat, mosquitoes, black flies, and long days, these craftsmen completed eight 54-foot gondolas, including PHILADELPHIA, and four 72-foot galleys in just over two months. The hulls were fitted out at Fort Ticonderoga. Across the lake at Mount Independence, they were moored at the foot of a shoreside cliff; spars and guns were lowered from the top of the cliff into position on board.
PHILADELPHIA carried three carriage guns, one 12-pounder, and two 9-pounders, and eight swivel guns. She had a single mast with a square-rigged mainsail and topsail. Her crew of 44 was captained by 25-year-old Benjamin Rue, from Pennsylvania. With little experience in boat handling and none in naval combat, Rue's men typified the troops described to Major General Horatio Gates, as "a wretched motley crew".
 
This fledgling fleet spent the majority of their time that late summer and early fall of 1776 patrolling the lake in anticipation of the completion of the British fleet in Canada. Finally, on October 11, 1776, the British were carried southwards on a north wind. The American fleet was moored in a protected bay between Valcour Island and the New York shore in anticipation. The British did not enter the Valcour Island passage from the north, but instead ran south to the east of Valcour Island, which meant that to engage the Americans, the British would have to sail into the wind, putting them at a disadvantage.
 
Despite this initial advantage, the British fleet was much more powerful than the Americans. At the end of the 6-hour battle, the schooner Royal Savage had been captured and burned, and the gunboat PHILADELPHIA sunk. Other vessels sustained damage, and sixty men were killed or wounded. The British decided to wait until morning to finish off this rebel fleet, which proved to be a poor decision. During the night, the cunning Benedict Arnold led his fleet in an escape, rowing silently right under the noses of the British. The British gave chase. Within a week the entire American fleet had been sunk, scuttled or captured.
 

REPLICA GUNBOAT PHILADELPHIA PLIES LAKE CHAMPLAIN

Greetings all....I'm back!!!
 
Model Shipways Kit (modified)
Scale: 1:24  1/2”=1’
Circa:  August-October 1776
 
    Happy Moon Day!!!  I am starting my build log on the 45th Anniversary of the Moon Landing....just because.  I don't actually plan on building until the first or second week in August, so I can do some summer stuff.  I will be doing some pre-build planning and I may add my thoughts here.
 
    I wanted to get started early so that my small but dedicated band of followers can find a seat.
 
    Background.  This will be the SECOND time I built PHILDELPHIA.  The first time I did so as a scratch build based on the Model Shipways plans.  I will refrain from going into why I chose PHILADELPHIA and save some bandwidth by giving you the link to my scratch build (if I can figure out how to do it). Chux scratch Philly.
 
    It was a fun build, but I had some challenges.  I have found that there was an additional sheet that comes with the model that does NOT come when you buy the plans separately.  This includes all the templates for bulkheads and other pieces parts.  Thanks alot Model Expo for not including that!!!  At any rate, it was an interesting build.  I entered it into the County Fair Design in Wood Exhibit (Scale model class) and actually got an offer to buy it.  By then, I was too attached to it to sell.  I offered to make a model from the kit, with boxwood and holly replacing the planking and primary exterior wood, as in the scratch.  I figured with the kit as a guide and my experience from the previous build, I could build it much faster and I could correct some problems...both with my build and what I perceived to be with the plans.  It also gives me an opportunity to work in a larger scale.  Some of those corners got really tight at 1/4" scale.
 
    History.  Again, so save bandwidth, I direct you to Philly History.  PHILADELPHIA and the history behind it is fascinating.  It (and its associated fleet, not to mention many of its adversaries) was built in a few weeks.  It 'lived' only a few months.  IIRC only PHILADELPHIA and ROYAL SAVAGE were the only two ships sunk during the battle, but within a week or two of the battle the entire American fleet was sunk, scuttled or captured-but it was considered a strategic American victory. 
 

 
    A century and a half or so later, it was discovered, raised and preserved.  It exists today, on display in the Smithsonian Institution.
 

 
NOW your interest is piqued, eh.  I think you REALLY want to go to Philly History and read more about it.  Other suggested readings include:
 
The Gunboat Philadelphia and the Defense of Lake Champlain in 1776. by Lundeberg, Philip K.  
The Gondola Philadelphia and the Battle of Lake Champlain. by Bratten, John R.
Benedict Arnold's Navy, by Nelson, James L.

Thankee Mark.  The guitars are tuning up.

Greetings all....I'm back!!!
 
Model Shipways Kit (modified)
Scale: 1:24  1/2”=1’
Circa:  August-October 1776
 
    Happy Moon Day!!!  I am starting my build log on the 45th Anniversary of the Moon Landing....just because.  I don't actually plan on building until the first or second week in August, so I can do some summer stuff.  I will be doing some pre-build planning and I may add my thoughts here.
 
    I wanted to get started early so that my small but dedicated band of followers can find a seat.
 
    Background.  This will be the SECOND time I built PHILDELPHIA.  The first time I did so as a scratch build based on the Model Shipways plans.  I will refrain from going into why I chose PHILADELPHIA and save some bandwidth by giving you the link to my scratch build (if I can figure out how to do it). Chux scratch Philly.
 
    It was a fun build, but I had some challenges.  I have found that there was an additional sheet that comes with the model that does NOT come when you buy the plans separately.  This includes all the templates for bulkheads and other pieces parts.  Thanks alot Model Expo for not including that!!!  At any rate, it was an interesting build.  I entered it into the County Fair Design in Wood Exhibit (Scale model class) and actually got an offer to buy it.  By then, I was too attached to it to sell.  I offered to make a model from the kit, with boxwood and holly replacing the planking and primary exterior wood, as in the scratch.  I figured with the kit as a guide and my experience from the previous build, I could build it much faster and I could correct some problems...both with my build and what I perceived to be with the plans.  It also gives me an opportunity to work in a larger scale.  Some of those corners got really tight at 1/4" scale.
 
    History.  Again, so save bandwidth, I direct you to Philly History.  PHILADELPHIA and the history behind it is fascinating.  It (and its associated fleet, not to mention many of its adversaries) was built in a few weeks.  It 'lived' only a few months.  IIRC only PHILADELPHIA and ROYAL SAVAGE were the only two ships sunk during the battle, but within a week or two of the battle the entire American fleet was sunk, scuttled or captured-but it was considered a strategic American victory. 
 

 
    A century and a half or so later, it was discovered, raised and preserved.  It exists today, on display in the Smithsonian Institution.
 

 
NOW your interest is piqued, eh.  I think you REALLY want to go to Philly History and read more about it.  Other suggested readings include:
 
The Gunboat Philadelphia and the Defense of Lake Champlain in 1776. by Lundeberg, Philip K.  
The Gondola Philadelphia and the Battle of Lake Champlain. by Bratten, John R.
Benedict Arnold's Navy, by Nelson, James L.

It does, but with a slighter curve.  The companionway leads from the main deck down to the 'tween deck area.  It is about 5 feet wide and 10 feet long.  The aft 'cabin' is basically the poopdeck, which houses the officer's quarters and dining area.   I only found one photo I had which was even close to depicting them, and it wasn't all that good.  I will see if I have others.